Sophomore Alex Martinez (Rock Hill, S.C./Northwestern) scored two goals including the game-winner in overtime to lift the High Point University men's soccer team to a 3-2 victory over VMI on Saturday afternoon in Lexington, Va. Martinez's goal came in the 99th minute of play.

"We're very pleased to get a hard-fought win against a very good and well-coached VMI team today," said HPU head coach Dustin Fonder. "We fought through a lot of adversity today so the win means that much more. Hopefully, winning three straight at the end of the season will give us momentum heading into the Big South Tournament."

The victory improved the Panthers to 8-9-2 overall and 4-4-1 in Big South play to finish the regular season. The Keydets fell to 1-15-2 overall and 1-7-1 in the Big South. The Panthers begin the Big South Tournament with the quarterfinals on Thursday in Boiling Springs, N.C.

Martinez scored the first goal of the game 4:38 into play when he slid to find a cross from Kendall Lawson (Virginia Beach, Va./Landstown). Freshman Mamadee Nyepon (Greensboro, N.C./Walter Hines Page) made it 2-0 in favor of the Panthers at 22:07 with a shot into the right side of the net. Junior Shane Malcolm (Sunrise, Fla./Piper) got an assist on the play.

The Panthers couldn't hold on to the lead as the Keydets scored twice to force an extra frame. Kyle Farmer scored 30:16 when he took a hard shot past a diving Michael Chesler (Highland, Utah/Mountain View) to get VMI within a goal before halftime. In the second half, 67:38 into play, David Rochow scored with an assist from Peyton Dekker to tie the game at 2-2. High Point outshot VMI, 8-5, in the second half but couldn't find the back of the net.

Martinez lifted the Panthers to victory 8:26 into overtime when he shot the ball from eight yards out, beating diving VMI goalie Adrian Dominguez. It was Martinez's team-leading 10th goal of the season. Martinez had hit the post in the previous minute and Nyepon had an overtime shot saved by Dominguez.

Chesler made five saves to earn the victory for High Point. Dominguez made four saves while absorbing the loss.

With a 4-4-1 record in Big South play, High Point finishes tied for fourth in the conference along with Liberty and Radford. HPU will play the 2011 Big South Tournament as the No. 6 seed and face the No. 3-seed Campbell in the quarterfinals on Thursday, Nov. 10, at 5 p.m., in Boiling Springs, N.C. High Point pulled out a 2-0 win over the Fighting Camels at Vert Stadium when the two teams met during the regular season. Redshirt-junior Ryan Bennett (Cary, N.C./Cary Christian) and senior Karo Okiomah (Austin, Texas/Hendrickson-Pflugerville) each scored for HPU in the win.

The Panthers enter the 2011 Big South Tournament looking for their first tournament title since joining the league in 1999-2000. High Point won its first-ever Big South regular season title in 2010 and made it to the championship game, falling to Coastal Carolina, 3-1. 

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